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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27790798">do not stand at my grave and weep</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnightchapters/pseuds/midnightchapters'>midnightchapters</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Blood of Zeus (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>And Thoughts, Angst, Angst and Feels, Character Death, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt No Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Non-Graphic Violence, The Author Regrets Nothing, he misses and loves her, hermes apollo seraphim they're all very minor, heron has a lot of feelings, heron's a mama's boy, im giving him more depth, zeus and hera are not good people</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 14:34:12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,944</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27790798</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnightchapters/pseuds/midnightchapters</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Heron has always wanted to die.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>66</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>do not stand at my grave and weep</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>mind the tags above if anything listed triggers you. your safety matters more to me!</p><p>and if not. go ahead and enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>i am not there; i do not sleep.</p><hr/><p>Heron has always wanted to die. </p><p>Ever since he was birthed into this cold cruel world. Ever since the world was so cruel to his mother and she tried her best to protect him from it and–</p><p>His mother never deserved those words, he did. He was the bastard after all. Not his mother. She just birthed him, after that everything's all and only him. </p><p>When Heron learns what the words mean when he's older, the age of 7 or so, he thinks that he's a curse. It's his fault, no one elses, it's his fault. </p><p>It's his fault that his mother has to face those taunts and curses and words that will forever haunt her. It's his fault that his mother has to deal with him when she deserves a greater life – the one a queen would have because his mother is a queen, she's more than a queen – and deserves a much better child. Heron knows it's not easy. It's his fault that he was born, it's his fault he lives, it's his fault his fault his fault. </p><p>(Hera calls him that years later. She calls him a bastard. He wants to die.) </p><p>Heron has never wanted to live. </p><p> </p><p>He grows up. Years pass by. And it's still the same in this dull village he and his mother live and struggle to live in. </p><p>Their is no day sky or night sky; there is only grey sky and grey clouds and everything is only grey.</p><p>He wishes he were a god. Then he could help provide for his mother better and she'll be happy for a first (she says she's alreadys so happy because she has him. But that's a lie. Heron's only a bastard. His mother hates him for putting her through this agony that comes shackled with Heron and she hates him for making her live with him. Him who is just a weight, an uneeded heavy weight. She could've had her happiness if it wasn't for him.) and she'll live in an ideal life, the one that Heron always wanted for her. </p><p>Years pass by for Heron and his mother and he is still stuck in the same cycle they've lived in for eons. They're still stuck in the same cycle. And they struggle to live and struggle to feed themselves and struggle to survive and die for they are fighters. They won't die unless they surrender and decide that they are dying because there is no other way, no other way out. </p><p>Heron has always wanted to die. But right now there is his mother and so, he won't die. Not until she's gone which hopefully never happenes because he never wants to imagine or think of his mother leaving him. Not when she's the only constant in his life and constant in general. </p><p>It's better if they die at the same time but Fates have never been in their will so he knows they won't. They live in anguish and will continue to do so for the rest of their lives whoever knows how long it may be. </p><p>Heron just wants to go. He doesn't want to live, especially not in a life like this where his mother is–</p><p>Heron hates life, he hates the Fates, he hates the Gods people worship to. They're not real, they don't exist not when they live a life full of everything and watch the mortals under them with shallow indifferenced eyes unless there is something they see and deem interesting and for them. Another thing they deem approriate for them and they are there is when there are prayers; and then they take those prayers greedily and give back something small because they're gods. The gods don't exist. It's all for show and all false. Even if there are gods, even if they are there and live the gods are nothing. Heron won't ever forgive them. The gods are nothing.</p><p>He wishes he were a god. </p><p>(The gods are nothing.) </p><p> </p><p>He is 10 years old and he and his mother still continue to struggle and live. But, this time, there is someone to help them. </p><p>His names Elias and he tells Heron stories. Stories that captivate his mind even after it's done, after Elias has gone home. </p><p>Elias takes care of them. </p><p>And Elias is so fresh. So nice and helpful and<em> there</em>. He's there for Heron and his mother but he is there there there. </p><p>Heron is thankful but he still wants to die. </p><p>At least if he does, there is someone else for his mother now. Someone not him. She wouldn't have to deal with him anymore if he chooses to go but his mother is here and so is Elias who recently entered their lives so, he will stay. </p><p>Heron has always wanted to die though. That won't ever change.</p><p> </p><p>He is 12 now and the boys in the village still don't accept him. </p><p>They call him all sorts of names. <em>Freak</em> standing out the most because he's an abnormality in this village. He and his mother are abnormalities. He's fatherless and she's husband-less.</p><p>They call him <em>The Bastard</em> too because he has no father like them – no one to hold, love, cherish, keep close like a father – and that singles him out, that is unusual, and they pick on him. </p><p>They spit all these names out with malice and turn up their noses and–</p><p>Where are the gods now? Why aren't they helping him? Why aren't they helping his mother?</p><p>WHERE ARE THE GODS NOW?</p><p>Nowhere because they're nothing. They don't exist. If they did they would've helped his mother and him out a long time ago. But gods were, are, known for being selfish. </p><p>He goes home with scraped kness and bruises and he cries but he hides from his mother because he doesn't want her to see him like this. He's her only joy right now and this will make her upset and make her cry and Heron hates seeing him mother cry. </p><p>The boys in the village push and shove him and toss him aside when they don't need anything from him and Heron is there laying on the ground tears in his tunic. He walks home like that and tries to hide from his mother but she notices. She always notices.</p><p>She drops the basket and approaches him, touches his cheek softly, notices the state he is in and water fills her eyes. She tilts his face so he looks at her and sees the bruises and sees the scrapes on his knees and wherever else. She presses kisses, brushes her lips against them and her shoulders shake with silent sobs but her features aren't crying. She cars her hand through his hair and whispers the kind of love that only mothers have. </p><p>Heron starts crying.</p><p>Naturally, his mother cries too.</p><p>They stay like that for ages. They stay like that until the sun has gone down and the moon takes place instead.</p><p>(It's not as of they could tell. They haven't seen the sun in its striking glory, they haven't seen the moon in its shining beauty, they haven't seen day or night in its quiet allure. They've only seen clouds.) </p><p>Heron still wants to die, but it doesn't matter.</p><p> </p><p>Heron is 14 when the boys attack him – they have always – with more fire, fuel, rabid animals. </p><p>And he tries his hardest to escape their sight, their might, their trail but. </p><p>Heron runs as fast as he can away from them but he gets cornered in the end and they leave a scar.</p><p>He has a scar on his eyebrow.</p><p>A blemish and that just adds onto his self-loathing.</p><p>A scar and that makes him stand out more than usual but the words that are going around is nothing of sort.</p><p>He hates it, he hates himself, Heron hates the gods. </p><p>Heron wants to die.</p><p> </p><p>Heron is 17 now and he and his mother are still fending off for themselves. </p><p>The village still throws them dirty looks and casts them away and turns a blind-eye. </p><p>They believe it's their fault for the clouds rolling overhead that shroud the entirety of them. </p><p>It isn't, it is, but what do they know.</p><p>Elias is there too.</p><p>And all he gets back in exchange for the rocks that his home is made of is two drachmas. It's not a way to live. They probably can't survive on that. He'll have to see his mother's disappointed face when he shows her (but not at him never at him) and he hates this life. </p><p>He picks the drachmas up and goes to his mother. And she sees and asks but she still comforts him when she should instead be furious at the world like he is. But his mother isn't like that, Heron knows. </p><p>It's his nature to be enraged at the world. It's not his mother's. </p><p>He strays off course, hears horse gallops and a woman declares that she's Grand Archon Alexia and that there are demons. That's the moment his life changed but he hates his life after that as well, it's no difference.</p><p>He fights a demon, Alexia comes and helps and Elias tells him a story of the gods, titans, war and giants. (Heron hates the gods. Everything's their fault) Alexia later tells, asks, invites him to join them in search and battle. He refuses. Because his mother is here and that means he will leave her. Heron won't leave his mother. And besides, this is not his fight and not his Fate. (He doesn't believe in the Fates. He only believes in free will) </p><p>And then they come for his mother, the whore, and he tries to fight him but gets cornered, has to admit defeat, and she sticks the rod in her arm to prove that she isn't a demon. She has to deal with more pain than the one she already has, has to deal with more pain in her life on top of what she has. Heron would take his mothers pain if he could so she wouldn't have to go through it. He would be Atlas and shoulder the burden so that she doesn't have to. </p><p>Heron wishes that, the people who had him overpowered, they had killed him that day. </p><p>It's no lie, Heron has always wanted to die. </p><p> </p><p>Heron has always hated the gods so when Elias tells him about Oneiroi, "they sound worse than the gods" escapes his mouth. </p><p>But it's not a lie, it's a truth. The truth. </p><p>And yet- he still wishes to be one. To be a god. But it's not for selfish reasons, it's just for his mother and her betterment. </p><p>Then his mother reveals that she used to be a queen and Heron can't help the question that slips out of his mouth. <em>"How did we end up here?" </em></p><p>His mother is a victim. Was a victim. Has always been a victim.</p><p>Victim to pain, victim to death, victim to life.</p><p>He finds out his father is Zeus and that just makes his curse more likely than ever. </p><p>His father raped his mother. He is no different than King Periander. </p><p>Zeus loves deceit. And, so, he knows when his mother says that Zeus loved her, loves Heron, is false. Zeus loves deceit. That's the only thign he loves and is capable of loving. Heron knows. His mother does too. </p><p>Hera sends a curse upon his mother. Sends the Oneiroi to the king that whisper nonsensical claims in his ears and plant them in his head. The eye of a jealous woman is very sharp. </p><p>(One thing Heron knows with absolute belief is that Hera is a nasty woman.)</p><p>And Heron has a brother. Heron isn't alone, he has a brother but his brother died and he is alone all over again. </p><p>His mother says not to look back on the past but what is Heron supposed to do. He asks for the name of the man who killed his brother and that is the answer he gets back. Heron has always had anger in him. </p><p>Heron has always had anger deep in his soul. </p><p>If Zeus is his father then why did he abandon his mother and him all those years ago. If Zeus is his father then why did he take flight. If Zeus is his father then why did he not help them. </p><p>(Heron has longed for a father as he grew and he still longs for one now. But Zeus-) </p><p> Zeus is no father of his. Old man Elias has been more of a father than he ever could. </p><p>Until Old man Elias is revealed as Zeus and Heron goes to confront him and-</p><p>Heron has always had fire in him. </p><p>So he screams, despaired, and seething. </p><p>Zeus is not his father. Not after what he did to his mother and put his mother through. Not after what he makes her deal with and what he made her life. </p><p>(Heron is a curse.) </p><p>Heron has always wanted to die. </p><p> </p><p>He preferred it when there were no gods involved and no stories and no hidden truths. </p><p>He knows that Hera hates him and his mother and if she had the chance would kill them. But she can't and because of that they're not dead.</p><p>(He's bitter at Zeus because of that but also relieved.) </p><p>Cerberus comes. He and Alexia fend it off, although Heron does so with remorse because he avoids blood at all costs most of the time but-</p><p>And the clouds clear and he sees actual night for the first time. That's not a good sign. </p><p>Demons come for them. They run. </p><p>He searches for his mother but she is not there. She is not in sight and is not responding to his pleading calls.</p><p>Heron has always been a mother's boy and if she goes, if he hasn't already died, that would kill him. </p><p>He finds her at last but at what cost? At what scene? He finds her and she is surrounded by demons as she's scared for her life. No, not for her life, for him, for <em>Heron</em>. She's scared for him but Heron doesn't know why or what for when she should be scared for herself <em>instead</em> but that's the nature of his mother like his is anger. </p><p>He, it, tosses her to the side and he is overpowered by the lead demon. Heron is beaten by that demon and seeing that; seeing the anger, the hate, the bitterness in his eyes, the demon kills her. Spears his weapon right through her and-</p><p>Heron's too late. Heron's gone. Heron is dead. </p><p>His mother dies. The head demon kills her and Heron has never regretted anything more in his life. It kills him. </p><p>Screams and sobs rip out of his throat and- </p><p>He is a curse, heron thinks. He is a curse. Heron is a curse. </p><p>Why was it her? His mother was supposed to live. <em>He</em> was the one supposed to die. He wants death, he begs for it but his mother is the one that dies. </p><p>(The Fates have never been in his favour.) </p><p>(Why was it her? It should've been him instead.) </p><p>He gets taken away. Away from his mother's cold dead body, away from the ruins of what used to be a village, away away away. </p><p>Heron has never wanted to die more than he has than that day. </p><p>He wishes the head demon had killed him when it had the chance. </p><p>He only stayed alive for his mother but what good that was.</p><p>Heron has always wanted to die. </p><p> </p><p>Hera gave Electra a curse. That curse is Heron. That curse is him. </p><p> </p><p>He sees his mother one final time before she crosses over and he wants to join her. </p><p>He wants to be with her. But he can't. Not with everything going on. </p><p>Heron makes friends. It's something new. A new territory. A new feeling. </p><p>He decides he likes it.</p><p>He makes friends. The boys in the village hated him, didn't want to be his friend (children are - were - so cruel), and so Heron didn't have any friends but he has them now and he likes it. </p><p>They hitch a plan and move to escape. Look to escape. Are close to escape but the demon leader comes and that goes down in ruins. </p><p>Lightning strikes. </p><p>They make their move. They escape.</p><p>And a war is on the horizon and all Heron wants is to die. </p><p> </p><p>It was much better when Heron believed (pretended) the gods didn't exist and were nothing. </p><p>Those were simpler times. </p><p>He had been nothing a few days ago and yet, now he is. He had only been the bastard, the freak, the whore's son. </p><p>Now, he's getting taken to Olympus because his father is Zeus. But Zeus is no father of his. </p><p>He doesn't want Zeus as his father (even though he did want a father but now that he has one he doesn't want it anymore. Maybe its because he left all those years ago. But it's definitely the things he did to his mother) he just wants his mother. </p><p>He is the key to a war, this war, and it seems he has to get used to the way blood smells feels tastes looks like. </p><p>Heron is taken to Olympus and it starts all over again. The judgement, the suspicion, the words. Bastard. </p><p>But-</p><p>But Hermes pays no attention to the whispers that follow and meets him where he stands by Zeus and shakes his hand. </p><p>Apollo and Artemis follow. </p><p>So does Hera. </p><p>And this is the woman (Heron doesn't consider her a goddess. You stop being something divine when you actively want to kill someone just for your own sake) who wanted to kill them, wanted to kill his mother and cause them harm. This is the woman who set that curse on his mother that birthed him and that is enough proof. Heron is a curse. </p><p>She asks for Zeus to kill him. Just like Heron knew she would, expected it and he eagerly waits for it because this will be his death finally, he'll join his mother. Who cares that he's part of a war, the key of, they can win it by themselves. He doesn't care, he only cares for his mother and dead brother.</p><p>Zeus refuses. </p><p>Heron slumps and his eyes rest on the floor. </p><p> </p><p>Training starts and Zeus tells him to let go of his anger and focus. But how can he do that as anger runs through him.</p><p>There is so much rage in him at everything. At the world, at the gods, at the Fates, at the demons and the leader who killed his mother. He thinks he's similar to Ares in that part. But there's no rage in him at his mother's death, it's just melancholic longing. </p><p>He fails. 100 times. Tries to turn inward like Zeus told him but his anger doesn't die. </p><p>He's not built for calm. His mother is.</p><p>Zeus later on comes to him and admits that he never knew his father, that he doesn't know how to do this (parenting) and it's no excuse because Heron has never wanted him anyway. He wantes and wants a father who loved and loves him. Not a father who's using him as a pawn, who used him as a pawn, who only is there for his own gain. Not a father who's made of deceit and tells Heron these things because of it so it wins Heron's favour over. Not a father who left him and his mother like that. Not a father who did those treachorous hings to his mother. Not a father not a father not a- </p><p>His father is nothing.</p><p>Heron just wants his brother. But his brother's dead. </p><p>And then he isn't. </p><p>Seraphim's his brother. </p><p>His life is made more complicated.</p><p>Heron doesn't believe in the Fates, or fate itself, but they still call for him. </p><p> </p><p>The fate of the world is in his own hands and he must do everything he can to protect it.</p><p>Heron doesn't want to. He wants to die. And so, let the world die.</p><p>He doesn't care. Why should he? The world's not his. The world's is the gods. </p><p>He doesn't care. Why should he? He never asked to be born, he never asked to be the key to the war, he never asked to be the hero that gods and mortals alike need to save humanity. He never <em>asked asked asked</em>. </p><p>The Fates leave the answer open to his question of "Are they going to die" but he knows. He disobeys Zeus because this is what he was born for, his birth is a disobedience to Hera and Zeus' marriage. His father says the world will die and that he's not ready. It doesn't matter.</p><p>His friends matter more than the world. </p><p> </p><p>There are no remains of the giants anymore in the labryrinth. </p><p>Seraphim and his demons show. He asks Heron to join and there's nothing more than he wants his brother. Seraphim says he's tired of being a pawn in the gods game and so is Heron and after this war he'll leave and-</p><p>Heron just wants his brother and wants to leave, wants to die but he can't. He can't. </p><p>He has the world to save even though he doesn't care for it but he cares for his mother and his brother, his friends too and that's enough. </p><p>Fate lies on him.</p><p>He can't do anything he wants to because he is a pawn. He is a curse. </p><p>Heron has always avoided blood but in the position he is in now he can't. Another thing the gods ruined for him. </p><p>If he dies, if he doesn't come out alive then that's the better of it. </p><p>He wishes Seraphim had killed him. He wishes he died.</p><p>Heron has always wanted to die.</p><p> </p><p>Betrayal rests on him like the cloak of Leto. Bitterness coats his tongue like ash. Resentment stings his throat. </p><p>His mother and Leto are the same. </p><p>Zeus- He's no father.</p><p>Heron doesn't care if he is his father (he's not). Why should he? His "father" raped his mother and made her deal with pain and gave her a curse alongside Hera. </p><p>A curse that is, <em>who</em> is, Heron. </p><p>He never asked for siblings. Never asked for godly siblings from his father. He doesn't want godly siblings of his father who is a rapist. Who caused his mother harm. If he wants and asks for a sibling, he asks for his true brother Seraphim. </p><p>But his life, their life, has always been destined for suffering. </p><p> </p><p>War descends. </p><p>Giants come back alive from their metaphorical graves. </p><p>Zeus says he's his son. Heron's no son of his.</p><p>And especially with the hidden engraved sealed anger he has, he isn't his father's son nor his mother's dear.</p><p>Zeus never wanted him. Never wanted him and his mother before then why does he need them - him - now. Why does he need him now. Just for his own sake. Not for Heron, never for him, not for his mother, never for his mother.</p><p>They prepare for war.</p><p>Heron hopes he dies this time around.</p><p> </p><p>The involvement of gods in his life is where it went wrong. Where everything went wrong. He preferred being stuck forever in the miserable village than this. </p><p>Heron did not want to be taken into godly matters but he's the son of Zeus. He's a demigod. As if that matters anything. </p><p> </p><p>He's thrust into war. There's bloodshed which he tends to avoid but in the position, situation, he is in he has to do what he has to. </p><p> </p><p>Elias had been more of a father than Zeus had. And yes they are the same but the entities are separate. </p><p>Elias is his father not Zeus. </p><p> </p><p>The life of Heron has always been a pitiable thing. </p><p>He's always wanted to die but couldn't. </p><p>He is a curse. </p><p> </p><p>The bident is inches away from his chest. But then he remembers, he thinks, he realises his struggle in him wanting to die.</p><p>He lets go. </p><p>It spears through him and his brother but that won't matter in the end. He'll be dead. </p><p>And so for a release of death he lets go. </p><p> </p><p>But then-</p><p>He wakes up. He wakes up after the war with wounds where he was speared. He wakes up after the battle and he doesnt feel relief. He feels misery. He cries, and cries just not in sight, at night and full of hurt. Seraphim died; he wishes it had been him instead. After all, Seraphim didn't want to die, Heron did and always has.</p><p>Heron died but Apollo brought him back from the brink of it.</p><p>Heron wants to die. He did die. But he came back. If Apollo healed, resurrected him then he could've done so with Seraphim too. </p><p>Why is he alive? He's played his part. He's done his part. He isn't needed anymore. His fate's ended.</p><p> </p><p>The life of Heron is a curse. </p><p>The life of Heron is a curse from the moment he's born and doomed everyone. </p><p>It's a curse curse curse-</p><p> </p><p>He wakes up and he hates Apollo. He hates Apollo so much. Why is he his brother? Why is Hermes his brother? Why is Hepahestus his bother? Why is the whole of Olympus his brother? Why do they want him to live? </p><p>He just wants to die and wants Seraphim. He wants his actual brother. And he wants his mother. He could've been with them, he could've joined them, he could've been happy. </p><p>Heron never chose this life. He never chose anything. </p><p>They think he looks at the statue of Zeus in hurt and they are quick to reassure him but what they don't know is that Heron thinks this is all his father's fault. </p><p> </p><p>Heron killed his family because he existed and exists. If he hadn't been alive, been born or whatever Seraphim would be happy, his mother would be happy. He just wouldn't because he wouldn't exist. It's all because of him. Everything is because of him. He's the cause and reason for all pain. And if it isn't his fault, then why did his mom die? Why did his brother die? Why does he have family but they are snatched ruthlessly from him? </p><p> </p><p> </p><p></p><div class="css-1dbjc4n r-173mn98 r-17s6mgv r-1bymd8e r-1udh08x r-1nwbi2h">
  <p>He walks among the gods on Olympus. And he mutters curses at Zeus and cries to make himself feel something.</p>
  <p>The life of Heron is a very real thing. The life of Heron is him being a curse.</p>
  <p> </p>
  <p>One day, Heron sneaks down to Earth. He doesn't like Olympus much. That's not his thing. </p>
  <p>And it's relief. But what he's about to do is more relief.</p>
  <p>He's in a meadow and he quickly whispers for forgiveness to Persephone for what he's about to do.</p>
  <p>Deep in the meadow, he slits his throat.</p>
  <p>Deep in the meadow lies a boy who is 17, 18 at the oldest, bleeding.</p>
  <p>Deep in the meadow lies a boy who is dead.</p>
  <p>Deep in the meadow meadow meadow.</p>
  <p> </p>
  <p>Hermes comes to collect a soul. He sees it's Heron and he freezes in shock. But then he remembers he's supposed to bring him to the Underworld like he does others and speeds off. </p>
  <p>Hermes asks Heron why.</p>
  <p>Heron doesn't reply. He gives his brother a small smile and shrug and it's silent after that.</p>
  <p> </p>
  <p>Heron. Heron breathes easier than he has in a while and is happier and it kills Hermes to see his little brother be so happy because he's dead but he understands. He would feel the same for his mother too.</p>
  <p>Heron reunites with his mother and he is so happy and he cries. He hugs her. His mother's crying too because he died so young but also because she can see him again and he is here with her. </p>
  <p>At night, when Hades is preoccupied, Heron sneaks past him and goes to where Seraphim is in Tartarus. </p>
  <p>Seraphim believes him to be a hallucination and spits curses and then jagged sentences lined with regret and grief. </p>
  <p>Heron hugs him. Seraphim hugs him back after many tense moments.</p>
  <p>The two brothers are brothers finally. The two brothers <em>can</em> be brothers finally. </p>
  <p>Electra, Heron and Seraphim are finally together and family. </p>
  <p>Heron likes being dead.</p>
  <p> </p>
  <p>While the world above is in mourning. The gods are mourning. But Heron's friends are the one who's mourning the most along with his siblings who knew him.</p>
  <p>(The life of a demigod has never been a good or easy one. And after all, the Greeks invented tragedy.) </p>
  <p>The Fates took the hero away too soon. The Fates took Heron away too soon.</p>
  <p>But free will and fate coexist.</p>
  <p>They mourn. The sun doesn't go up, the world remains in darkness and they mourn.</p>
  <p>At his funeral (he is draped and covered in burial shrouds and cremated), they mourn a loss, tears spilling on smooth skin. </p>
  <p>Everyone has gathered together for the hero's funeral to pay respects. Even the gods who didn't know him or didn't know him closely. </p>
  <p>First Zeus, Hera and now Heron. It's a pattern.</p>
  <p>"Why?" Alexia whispers, huddled close to Kofi and Evios with Artemis, Apollo and Hermes. </p>
  <p>Tears stain them. </p>
  <p>Thanatos is there too. The god of death is there to pay his respects to the hero. He hears her.</p>
  <p>What he tells them makes them cry more and it carries over in the wind so everyone hears it. What he tells them is this: </p>
  <p>
    <em>Heron has always wanted to die. </em>
  </p>
  <p> </p>
</div>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>giving my white boy more character 😌✌🤟🤙</p><p>(also i didn't spoil too much. there was information so u get an idea but it was also very vague. well, i tried to keep it that way) </p><p>and there's so much to do and like write about a character who wasn't even explained and explored deeply. they just show this bland okay boy and that's it. without even diving into him, without even giving him depth AT ALL. they're just "Him. he's the son of Zeus. He's the hero." and end. </p><p>there is so much space to write about a character like that and people won't even like diprove it bc there is no canon in a character like him. the show's canon yes. but heron the things he faces and thinks and feels that is not canon. so there is so much space.</p><p>and liberties in writing and i am taking that to my advantage. using it to my advantage. but</p><p>liberties in writing! i love heron !!! (im so sorry i killed him) and i am bridging the gaps </p><p>remember to drink some water and eat and stay safe and healthy!! i love u all so much</p></blockquote></div></div>
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